Jim James: Bob Dylan Wouldn't Hang Out With Me

In a story that’s either amusing or sad, depending on your perspective, My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James told Rolling Stone that Bob Dylan didn’t really talk with him (much less hang out at the after-show jam sessions of his imagination) during their six-week summer tour.

James had dreams of playing with the legendary singer while sitting around a campfire at 2 a.m., but the reality was something quite different. Even when Dylan invited James and Jeff Tweedy onstage to perform at the end of sets, all communication when through his bass player, Tony Garnier.

“The whole concept of the tour was supposed to be super collaborative,” James told the magazine. “Bob really wasn’t around. We never talked to him once once. He does not hang, which is fine and understandable…or it’s kind of understandable. I don’t know.”

That “kind of understandable” part makes it seem an awful lot like James was disappointed—if not outright miffed—that he and his bandmates got the cold shoulder. And it probably didn’t help that Dylan decided to change keys in certain songs a minute before James and Tweedy were set to take the stage. Still, as the late Lou Reed proved, part of being an aging music legend is that you apparently get to be a REALLLL GRUMP.

James and My Morning Jacket will take to the studio to begin recording their new album next week, and will perform at a five-day festival in Mexico in late January. Here’s video of he and Dylan and Tweedy playing “The Weight.” See if you can sense the frosty-ness.